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Letters to the Editor Friday

Posted: September 21, 2012 - 12:11am

I attended the Elton John concert in the arena at our Civic Center recently. I hadn’t been to our Civic Center arena in 30 years. In the 1980’s, wheelchair users, such as me, entered the arena from behind the stage.

How things have changed. Now, I am only permitted to purchase seats on a raised platform in the back of the arena.

Will any potential fire politely remain simmering until all wheelchair customers are able to use the chair lift and exit from the upstairs lobby? Will the chair lift even work? Please explain to me how this method isn’t a fire hazard.

And regarding the raised platform: If you are lucky enough to be in the first row, maybe even the second, you should have fairly good view of the stage. Once you are in the third row, like I was, your view is gone.

My only recourse was to lean my neck to the left, past the person sitting in front of me, and watch the show on a mounted screen.

My “thank you” to everyone connected with the Civic Center who assisted me.

They did the best they could. Should our city decide that we need a Civic Center that is truly inclusive, I would like to volunteer my services and share ideas.

It can be done. It should be done.

MARSHA HOILMAN

Savannah

Those behind the stage merit applause, too

In response to the nice letter from Dr. Jeff Ignatoff (Sept. 13), regarding the thrilling performance by the Savannah Philharmonic last weekend, I, too, wave my baton in high praise.

Pianist Yejin Noh brought the entire audience to its feet with raucous applause several times. The Rachmaninoff piano concerto is tough to perform. I was thrilled to be in the audience.

Another person behind the scenes needs applauding, too. This is the technician responsible for the magnificent resonance and voice of the elegant Steinway grand piano — Jennifer Knox — who apprenticed in N.Y. at Steinway & Sons learning this difficult and unusual trade.

Savannah is fortunate to have this talented technician living here now keeping home pianos and concert instruments sounding splendid. I’d like to see the people working so hard behind the curtains called out on stage for their well-deserved applause.

DONNA CONNELL

Savannah

Obama denies the threat of Islamic Jihad

Psychotic people cannot discern dreams from reality. They may confront obvious danger, but will often invent plausible sounding explanations to diminish the peril before them.

Such is the state of mind of many educated, well-informed and well-intentioned people who cannot recognize the obvious fact that the United States has been at war for decades.

I reject the label “The War on Terror.” That notion is as fatuous as calling the war “A war against Fear.”

No, the war we are fighting is a war of defense against the Islamic Jihad, a religiously sanctioned holy war of “believers” against those who they perceive as unfaithful to their religion.

The current eruption of Jihadi violence is clearly a celebration of the heinous acts of war committed by Jihadis on Sept. 11, 2001. Invocation of angst against some obscure YouTube thing no one knows anything about is a ruse, an obvious deception.

Why do Hillary Clinton, Jay Carney and Susan Rice all ascribe the current round of violence against our country as a reaction to an offensive movie? They do so on orders from President Obama, who appears to suffer a deficiency in reality testing. On the other hand, he may be in full control of his cognitive faculties and is sincere in his active supportive of the Jihad.

In either case, we are in trouble.

STEPHEN M. HERMAN, M.D.

Savannah

Please get back to work, Mr. President

America is being attacked abroad — embassies burning, ambassador and staff assassinated, military bases attacked, soldiers being murdered by our allies, American businesses burned to the ground, violent mobs in the streets.

We see all this daily on TV.

The other thing we see daily on TV is the president giving speeches that sound silly in light of the serious nature of the crisis abroad. We hear about glitzy fund-raisers and see our president laughing it up TV talk shows.

We are very concerned for the nation. We think the president himself should be managing the crisis. He should report on it, personally, to the American people. That’s not asking too much — that’s what we hired him to do.

Question: What will it take for President Obama to go back to his day job?

Isn’t he supposed to be in charge during times of crisis?

We are so afraid the next step for terrorists will be to attack the homeland again. Is that what it will take to get the president’s attention?

JANE KENNY

Bluffton, S.C.

Here’s why letter-writer gets attacked: Fear

I keep seeing attacks on letter-writer Dick Berkowitz in your letters to the editor that describe his views as being not only wrong, but totally off base in every respect.

Here is an American who takes his country’s politics very seriously and is willing to share his views with what he believes are other concerned citizens. In response he is attacked, berated, vilified and made to appear as if he were un-American for speaking such trash.

I and quite a few like me think his views describe our political situation in a very accurate manner.

If something someone says is wrong, then people will reject it and toss it aside. If what they say causes others to verbally attack them from all sides, then it usually means that people are afraid of what is being said and will try and stop the source by any means possible, rather than analyzing the message to see if there is any truth contained therein.

Our political system is not one of control but rather one of administration based upon free elections.

Our government and political parties shouldn’t be trying to control people but instead lead them by example and laws that apply to everyone equally.

I believe Mr. Berkowitz sees and understands this, and is trying to clarify his ideas to Americans in general.

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Good thoughtful letter. I walk with a cane and also appreciate the accommodations the ADA has brought, making the everyday ordinary things doable for we disabled. After all, everybody is a TAB ie Temporarily Abled Bodied. If we should ever have a new Civic Center built I hope you will be asked for your suggestions. So many times handicapped facilities feel like they were designed by folks with four working limbs.